Facts about Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is the second major city of Brazil, behind São Paulo. The name "Rio de Janeiro" means "River of January". At one time it was the largest city. The city is capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The city was the capital of Brazil for almost a century... from 1763 to 1822 while it was a Portuguese colony and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation.. It was the de facto capital of the Portuguese Empire from 1808 to 1821. Commonly known as just Rio The city is also nicknamed "A Cidade Maravilhosa" meaning "The Marvelous City". It is famous for its spectacular natural setting, its Carnival celebrations, samba and other music, hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana and Ipanema, paved with decorated black and cream swirl pattern mosaics. The city's giant statue of Jesus, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain, which has recently been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Rio also boasts the two world's largest forests inside an urban area. The first is the forest in Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, or White Stone State Park. The second, almost connected to the first, is the famous Floresta da Tijuca, or 'Tijuca Forest'. The Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport connects Rio de Janeiro with many Brazilian cities and also operates some international flights. Despite its charm and beauty, Rio is reputed to be one of the most violent cities on Earth. Rio de Janeiro is located at 22 degrees, 54 minutes south latitude, 43 degrees 14 minutes west longitude. As of 2006, the population of the City of Rio de Janeiro is about 6,136,652. The city occupies an area of 1,182.3 square kilometres (456.5 sq mi). The population of the larger metropolitan area is estimated at 11-12 million. It was Brazil's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas. The official song of Rio de Janeiro is "Cidade Maravilhosa" (translated as "Marvelous City"). Rio has a Tropical climate. The temperature occasionally reaches over 40°C (104°F) in inland areas of the city, and maximum temperatures above 30°C (86°F) can happen every month. In the main tourist areas (south zone, where the beaches are located), the temperature is moderated by the cool sea-breezes from the ocean. The minimum temperature ever registered was 5°C (41°F) in July 1928 the absolute maximum temperature reached 43.8°C (110°F) in January 1984. Guanabara Bay was reached by Portuguese explorers in an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos on January 20, 1502; hence the name Rio de Janeiro, "January River". The city was founded on March 1, 1565, by Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá, who called it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro 20 (St Sebastian of the January 20th River), in honour of Saint Sebastian (day of death traditionally on January 20). When Prince Pedro I proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic. As of 2007, the population density of Rio de Janeiro is 4.781 inh./km². Most of Rio de Janeiro's population is of Portuguese descent, with a large number of people of African descent and Pardos of mixed Portuguese and African descent. As of March 2007, there were 1,684,173 vehicles in the city. As of May 2007, the total number of daily newspapers in Rio de Janeiro is 23. As of 2000, 60.71% of Rio de Janeiro's total population is catholic, which is 3,556,096 people, while 1,034,009 people are protestants which make 17.65% of the city's total population. As of 2000, 13.33% of the city's population has no religion, while 3.44% are Spiritists, 0.51% are Umbandists and 0.41% Jews. The GDP for the city was R$ 118,979,752,000 (2005). The per capita income for the city was R$ 19,524 (2005). The city also hosts the headquarters of large telecom companies, such as Intelig, Oi and Embratel. The official song of Rio de Janeiro is "Cidade Maravilhosa", which means "marvelous city". The song is considered the "civic anthem" of Rio, and is always the favourite song during Rio's Carnival in February. Rio was eternalized in the super smash hit song "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema) composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and recognized worldwide and recorded by Astrud Gilberto and João Gilberto, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. This is also the main key song of the Bossa Nova, a musical genre that was born in Rio. Brasilia, the capital of Brazil is 1,160 km (720 mi) from Rio. Sao Paulo, the most important city of Brazil is 430 km (270 mi) from Rio de Janeiro. Belo Horizonte is 450 km (280 mi) from Rio. Niteroi is 15 km (9 mi), Volta Redonda is 96 km (60 mi) while Juiz de fora is 125 km (78 mi) from Rio de Janeiro. Campos is 238 km (148 mi) from Rio de Janeiro. Rio has a very high crime rate, especially homicide, in poor areas dominated by gangs. As of 2007, the homicide rate of the greater metropolitan area stands at nearly 80 victims per week, with the majority of victims falling to assault, stray bullets or narcoterrorism. In 2006 2,273 people were murdered in the city giving it a murder rate of 37.7 cases for every 100,000 people, down from 45 cases as registered in 2001, if we compare it with London, London's murder rate in 2004 was 2.4 cases for every 100,000 population. According to federal government research, the city itself ranks 206th in the list of the 5565 most violent cities in Brazil and first in total number of firearm-related deaths. Between 1978 and 2000, 49,900 people were killed in Rio. The Urban Warfare involves drug-traffic battle with police fighting against outlaws, or even corrupt policemen on their side. Rio de Janeiro's low paid and ill-equipped police are violent as well. In 2007, the police killed 1,260 people in the state, an increase of 15% over 2006 when 1,063 people were killed, in 2003 that number stood at 1,195. In comparison the American police killed just 347 people in whole of the USA during 2006. The average Rio policeman earns only R$ 874 a month or R$ 10,488 (around US$ 5,500) a year. Only 3% of the murders are solved by Rio's police. |
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